Loreen's trance track 'Euphoria' finished on 372 points with Russia on 259 points. Serbia, in third, was the only other country to top the 200-point mark while host nation Azerbaijan was fourth.
The United Kingdom's entry Engelbert Humperdinck slumped to second last place, collecting just a dozen points from four countries - Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, and Belgium.
Only Norway act Tooji prevented the UK from a fourth bottom-placed finish in the last 10 years, although no country suffered the indignity of scoring nul points.
Hopes were not particularly high for the 76-year-old crooner nicknamed the Hump especially after a poor draw put him and his ballad 'Love Will Set You Free' on first.
Viewers often tune into the contest late or simply cannot remember the early acts by the time the voting opens.
Nevertheless, Humperdinck was in a genial mood in this interview afterwards.
"I've had many highs in my career and Eurovision has been a wonderful experience," he said. "I did the best for my country, the rest was out of my hands."
The choice of Humperdinck was always a bit of a risk with his heyday having come over 40 years ago.
But, with greener acts having also failed miserably in recent times, it now seems impossible to know what the UK must do to regain its Eurovision credibility.
Ireland, who last won in 1996, has a plan: simply enter Jedward twins John and Edward Grimes every year until they win.
It doesn't seem likely to work, though. As predicted on this blog, Jedward lacked the element of surprise for 2012 and always seemed likely to fare worse than last year when finishing eighth.
This time the twins could only manage 46 points to be placed in 19th, though they did at least make a splash by finishing their song 'Waterline' by jumping into an on-stage fountain.
Thankfully for the organisers in Baku, that was about as ridiculous as it got, meaning this controversial contest passed by without incident.
After all, the 57th edition of the competition had been making headlines in the run-up for all the wrong reasons.
The venue - named the Crystal Hall - was newly-built but came at the expense of the relocation of hundreds of Baku residents. Meanwhile, other human rights abuses by the Azerbaijani authorities were also uncovered.
As such, Eurovision organisers will be comforted by the fact that next year will be in the relative safety of Sweden following what the Guardian described as "the most politicised contest yet".
That remains a genuine shame but, considering even the very first competition in 1956 was overshadowed by the Suez crisis, it was clearly ever thus.
FINAL STANDINGS
| Country | Song - Artist | Points | |
| 01 | SWEDEN | 'Euphoria' - Loreen | 372 |
| 02 | Russia | 'Party for Everybody' - Buranovskiye Babushki | 259 |
| 03 | Serbia | 'Nije ljubav stvar' - Željko Joksimović | 214 |
| 04 | Azerbaijan | 'When the Music Dies' - Sabina Babayeva | 150 |
| 05 | Albania | 'Suus' - Rona Nishliu | 146 |
| 06 | Estonia | 'Kuula' - Ott Lepland | 120 |
| 07 | Turkey | 'Love Me Back' - Can Bonomo | 112 |
| 08 | Germany | 'Standing Still' - Roman Lob | 110 |
| 09 | Italy | 'L'amore è femmina (Out of Love)' - Nina Zilli | 101 |
| 10 | Spain | 'Quédate conmigo' - Pastora Soler | 97 |
| 11 | Moldova | 'Lăutar' - Pasha Parfeny | 81 |
| 12 | Romania | 'Zaleilah' - Mandinga | 71 |
| 13 | FYR Macedonia | 'Crno i belo' - Kaliopi | 71 |
| 14 | Lithuania | 'Love Is Blind' - Donny Montell | 70 |
| 15 | Ukraine | 'Be My Guest' - Gaitana | 65 |
| 16 | Cyprus | 'La La Love' - Ivi Adamou | 65 |
| 17 | Greece | 'Aphrodisiac' - Eleftheria Eleftheriou | 64 |
| 18 | Bosnia-Herzegovina | 'Korake ti znam' - MayaSar | 55 |
| 19 | Ireland | 'Waterline' - Jedward | 46 |
| 20 | Iceland | 'Never Forget' - Gréta Salóme & Jónsi | 46 |
| 21 | Malta | 'This Is the Night' - Kurt Calleja | 41 |
| 22 | France | 'Echo (You and I)' - Anggun | 21 |
| 23 | Denmark | 'Should've Known Better' - Soluna Samay | 21 |
| 24 | Hungary | 'Sound of Our Hearts' - Compact Disco | 19 |
| 25 | UNITED KINGDOM | 'Love Will Set You Free' - Engelbert Humperdinck | 12 |
| 26 | Norway | 'Stay' - Tooji | 7 |
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Preview
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK will open the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom, having been drawn as the first act on stage at the Baku Crystal Hall in Azerbaijan.
The 76-year-old crooner, who had two number one hits in the late 1960s with 'Release Me' and 'The Last Waltz', aims to give the UK their first Eurovision win since 1997 with his new ballad 'Love Will Set You Free'.
But Humperdinck's hopes have been hit by the draw as the first song is rarely remembered by the time that voting opens.
In that respect, Irish twins Jedward have been given a better chance. They are 23rd in line having been one of 10 countries to qualify from the first semi final on Tuesday.
The question remains, though: if they failed last year, what are the chances of them doing any better this time?
Russia's Buranovskiye Babushki - featuring eight grandmothers - was another novelty act to emerge from the preliminaries but the strong favourites - as short as evens in places - are Sweden and their trance hit 'Euphoria'.
Eurovision 2012 is on BBC One at 8pm tonight, thus clashing with Roy Hodgson's first game as England manager against Norway in Oslo which is on ITV at 7.45pm.
EUROVISION 2012 RUNNING ORDER
Click on the links for the official Eurovision videos of each of the songs.
| Country | Song | Artist | |
| 01 | United Kingdom | Love Will Set You Free | Engelbert Humperdinck |
| 02 | Hungary | Sound of Our Hearts | Compact Disco |
| 03 | Albania | Suus | Rona Nishliu |
| 04 | Lithuania | Love is Blind | Donny Montell |
| 05 | Bosnia-Herzegovina | Korake ti znam | MayaSar |
| 06 | Russia | Party for Everybody | Buranovskiye Babushki |
| 07 | Iceland | Never Forget | Greta Salome & Jonsi |
| 08 | Cyprus | La La Love | Ivi Adamou |
| 09 | France | Echo (You and I) | Anggun |
| 10 | Italy | L'amore e femmina (Out of Love) | Nina Zilli |
| 11 | Estonia | Kuula | Ott Lepland |
| 12 | Norway | Stay | Tooji |
| 13 | Azerbaijan | When the Music Dies | Sabina Babayeva |
| 14 | Romania | Zaleilah | Mandinga |
| 15 | Denmark | Should've Known Better | Soluna Samay |
| 16 | Greece | Aphrodisiac | Eleftheria Eleftheriou |
| 17 | Sweden | Euphoria | Loreen |
| 18 | Turkey | Love Me Back | Can Bonomo |
| 19 | Spain | Quedate conmigo | Pastora Soler |
| 20 | Germany | Standing Still | Roman Lob |
| 21 | Malta | This Is The Night | Kurt Calleja |
| 22 | FYR Macedonia | Crno i belo | Kaliopi |
| 23 | Ireland | Waterline | Jedward |
| 24 | Serbia | Nije Ijubav stvar | Zeljko Joksimovic |
| 25 | Ukraine | Be My Guest | Gaitana |
| 26 | Moldova | Lautar | Pasha Parfeny |
Related links
- Official Eurovision website
- Official Eurovision Youtube page
- BBC Eurovision page
- Previous Eurovision reports on this blog - 2009 2010 2011
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